Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-02-25


pher, in dying, had for his chief sorrow
that he had not devoted his whole life to
the study of the dative case. O, when
your Immortality is in peril, why quib-
BILE? Quit these non-essentials, my
dear brother. In the name of God ask
you in regard to these matters of the i'm
mortal soul that you do not play the fool.
What is that man doing over in
Bowling Green, New York. Well, ne is
going in for ticket for a transatlantic
voyage. He is quarreling with the clerk
about the spots-the red spots on the
ticket-and he is qusrreling about the
peculiar signature of the President Of the
! steamship company, and he is quarreling
about the manner CT the clerk who hands
| him the ticket. How long has he been
| standing there? Three weeks. Mean
while, perhaps twenty steamers have gone
out OF port, and | hear the shrek OF the
steam-tug that could take him 10 the last
vessel that could bear him TO his engage
meDt in London. Still he stands in Bowl
| ing Green discussing the ticket. What
| do you say in regard to that man? You
i say he is fool. Well, in that very way are
many men acting in regard to the matter
! of the soul. They are c2viling about the
| Atonement, the red spots on the ticket;
about the character of the minister VINO
| hands them the ticket; about whether it
I has q divine or human signature, and,
meanwhile, all their opportunities for
heaven are sailing out Of the harOor, and
| | hear The last tap Of the bell announcing
| their last chance for heaven. Go aboard
! Do not waste sny more time in higgling,
and carping, and cEiticising, and wonder
| ing, and, in the presence of an astourded
! heaven, playing the fool.
go still further and say to you that
] those men play the fool who undertake to
pay out eternity for time. How little
care do we bestoW upon the railroad de-
| pot where we stop twenty minutes TO
dine. We dash in and we dash out
again. We do not examine the archi-
| lecture of the building, nor the face Of
/ the caterer. We supply our hunger, We
pay our money, and we put on our hat
and take our place in the train.
What is that depot as com.
pared with the place for which we are
bound? Now, my friends, this world is
only stopping place on the way 30 8
momentous destination, and yet how
many of US sit down as though we had
Consummated our Journey, as though We
had come to the Lnal depot, when our
stopping here is as compared with our
stopping there as is twenty minutes to
twelve hours--yea, as the one hundredth
pait of second compared with 10, 000,-
900, 900 years, Would Spain sell US
CuOa for bushel OF wheat? Would Eng
land sell US India for tor Of coal?
Would Venice sell Us all her pictures for
an American school boys sketch? An.
that would be & better bargain for Eng
lard, Spain and Venice than that man
makes who gives his eternity for time.
Yet how mary there aTe who are saying
to-day: "Gve me the worlds dollars
and you may have the eternal rewards.
Give me the worlds applause sud you
may nave the garlauds of God. Give me
twenty, or forty, or sixty years of worldly
success and | don't care what becomes
OF the future. l am going into that world
uninsured. | take the responsibility.
Don't bother me about your religion.
Here have the two worlds before me-
this one and the next. l have chosen
this. Go away from me, God and an
geIs, and all thoughts of the future"
But where is CIusUs snd Cleopatra and
Esopas, who had one dish of food that
cost Sl,4O0, 900; aud Lentulus, who had
Scaurus, who bought a country seat for
S29 900, 600; and Tiberius. who left at
death fortune Of SlIS,l20,000? Where
are thew? If win y day should blow
all the dust that is left OF them into your
eyes i would net make you wink twice.
All, my friends, then very certainly y.ur
comforts of surrounding cannot keep
back the old archer. You cannot charm
naiR until nj of
or decoy him with pictures, or bride him
with your money.
What is the use Of your struggling for
that which you cannot keep? As long as
you have clothes and food and shelter
and education for yourselves and your
children and the means for Christian
generosity, be satisfied. You worry, and
tug, and sweat, and wear yourself out
for that which cannot satisfy. Whole !
flocks of crows feet on your temples and !
cheeks before they ought to have come |
there. You are ten years cider than you |
ought TO be, and yet you cannot take !
along with you into the future world +,
even the two pennies on your eyelids to !
keep them shut after you are dead. AnG |
yet you hold onto this world with the |
avldity Of the miser who persisted in |
notes Of hand in the bosom of his dress |
ing gown while he was dying, and in the |
last moment held his parchment in such |
tight grip that the undertaken after death !
must almost break the mans fingers in
order to get the bonds away. Men are
actually making thst choice, while there
ere others VINO have done far differently.
When they tried to bride with money
7 20 /
no use trying to do that-that Dutch
beast cares nothing for gold.' When
they tried by giving aim g cardinals hat,
TO bride Savonaroia, he stood up in his
pulpit and cried out: az will have no
red hat, save that of martrydom, colored
with my own blood.n These men chose
Cnrist amid great prosecutions; but how
many there are in this day, when Chris
tisuity seems TO be popular, who are
ashamed of Christ and not willing to take
the hardships-the seeming hardships-
Of His religion. And, alas for them. for
long after the crash of the worlds demoli-
ton, they shall find that in all these years
they we're turning their backs upon the
palaces of heaven, scrabbling on the door
Of this worlds treasure house, the saliva
Of terrific lunacy on their lips-horribly
aud overwhelmingly playing the fool,
Once more: | say to you that those
men plsy the fool who, while they admit
the righteousness of religion, set it down
Tor future attendance. Do you know how
many times the word "now' occurs in
the Bible Over 200 times. One Of the
n rtest words in tue Bible, and vt one
Of the grandest in meaning and rauliica-
lions. When does the Bible say is the
pest time to repent? Now. Wien does
The Bible say tnat God VIII forgive?
Now. When does God say is the only
safe time to attend to the matters Of the